Check Out Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger

As first looks go, it's remarkably ... minimal. The first image of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger in the upcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street has been released, showing a shadowy Freddy ready for action. The full image is available at Trailer Park (with another one arriving on IGN later today we're told).

Having in mind that this is strictly a teaser pic, with more on the way, I like it. It's got Freddy's signature sweater, his signature hat, and his signature knife-claws. Freddy's face is in the shadows, but that can wait for a later reveal. To be frank, I haven't been terribly enthusiastic about this remake / re-imagining, but Haley has been very good in his recent roles, especially in Watchmen.

Add to that the positive feelings emanating from the brief report by William Goss this morning, in which Haley acknowledged the challenge of stepping into the child-killing shoes of Robert Englund, and producer Andrew Form indicated that the new Nightmare would indeed try to be "terrifying" and "unsettling." The original series of Nightmare films devolved from scary to slick to stupid, so at least they're heading in the right direction. And with Haley, there's a chance that he can bring an added dimension, beyond what Englund would have brought to the role as such a familiar icon.